In the next episode of Striking, Eve gets a call from Leonard and imitates Tessa! It was supposed to be longer, but I had to cut it short due to time. Oh, well.

Enjoy, my pretties!

Chapter Nine - Lightning

The next three days were full of testing. I stayed locked up in my room with my laptop for the whole first day, after receiving it from the front desk. Apparently, Tessa wasn't allowed up anymore. While Johnny melted the giant box Reed employed to test his power, I delved into my own electronic world and only emerged when my cellphone rang.

"What?" I asked, my fingers flying across the keyboard.

"It's me. Victor has some instructions for you." I rolled my eyes, sighed, shifted the phone to my other ear, and pulled up the security camera feed from Leonard's office. He was sitting at his desk, talking to me on the phone and clicking away on his computer in that infuriatingly slow way of his.

"Shoot."

"Let's see, he needs the information for a doctor -"

"'Kay, let me pull up the list."

"- he wants you to set up cameras in the Baxter Building -"

"What?"

"- and he wants to plant an idea."

"Wait, wait, wait! Cameras? Really?" I was a bit scared. "Is Victor going all pervert on me?"

Leonard chuckled, both over the phone and on the camera. "Victor said you'd say that. He only wants them in Reed's workstations. He wants to make sure Dr. Richards is staying on track." He stood and stared out the window, his free hand on his hip.

I knew for a fact that was not Victor's intention. I didn't know what it really was, but it was not the noble cover he told his assistant. I sighed. This was part of the job description, and I was good at it. Too good sometimes. "Fine. What about the doctor thing?"

"He's not feeling swell. He wants someone reliable, new -"

"Wait, stop. Did you just say swell?"

"Yes, why?"

It was hard containing my laughter. Scrawny, sewer-rat Leonard saying "swell"? That was just wrong. He turned and approached my desk, sat in my chair, and started rifling through the stacks of paper coating my workspace. At that, I frowned.

"Never mind. Ah, here we go." I pulled up the file I had on Dr. Wesley Tohns, a new doctor on payroll and one of the best at keeping his mouth shut and sealed, especially to those damn reporters. I read off some of the information to Leonard, then sent him the file. "Shot it to you. Bye."

I was about to hang up, but Leonard's voice stopped me. "You're forgetting the last of the instructions." I groaned, but kept the phone to my ear. "Now, he needs you to do something about Reed." As he relayed the message, I jotted down two words on my hand as a reminder. "Got that?" he asked, lounging in my chair.

"I'd better be getting payed for this. Oh, and Leonard? Leave my stuff alone, and get out of my chair." I managed to catch his look of shock before I disconnected the camera feed and returned to my own universe, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach about Victor's second request.

The second day, Reed had Ben drag me out of my room. He would do it himself, but not only was he a complete wimp about it, when he tried, he got a nasty shock on his arm. It really wasn't that bad, but he yelped and jumped away from me like I was some sort of vicious animal that finally bit back. So he sent in the big guns, and Ben can't be shocked. He's a stone, and stones don't get electrocuted.

So Grimm picked me up by my sweatshirt and dumped me in a chair. I glared at him and hissed at Reed when he tried to touch me. "Get away from me," I growled when he came towards me clutching what looked like si-fi movie props. They were clunky gloves with several wires attached to them, and most of the wires lead to a big, gray box with a meter at the top. The rest lead to -

"Lamps? Really?" I jerked away when Reed darted for my hands, but then Ben just wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug. "Get off me, bastard!" As I kicked and struggled against the uncomfortably hard rock, Richards came closer. I clenched my fists, sparks leaping off them. "Come any closer, rubber band, and I'll shock your graying hair out."

Both men seemed taken aback by my resistance to being studied, and Rocky loosened his grip. I slipped out and got a few feet away when arms grabbed my legs and yanked me upside-down. As I shrieked bloody murder at Reed, who had caught me, and Ben, who was holding me by my ankles, the tall scientist slipped the gloves on my hand, strapped on the Velcro, and jumped back.

Nothing happened. Well, Johnny and Sue appeared from who-knows-where and saw me hanging upside-down with freaky gloves on my hands and struggling to escape. Johnny doubled over laughing while Sue stalked up to her ex and asked him why I was screaming. When they finished their chat, Sue came up to face me, albeit she was upright, not hanging from the walking sculpture.

"Eve, Reed just wants to test how powerful your shock is. Why are you fighting?"

"Make Pebbles here put me down, or I'll shock all your asses off while you sleep," I demanded.

Behind her, Johnny was grinning. "Pebbles. Good one. Gotta remember that."

Susan frowned, then nodded to Ben. He reluctantly placed me back on the chair. I crossed my arms and turned to face away. I was acting childish, but I really hate being tested on. Really, really, hate it.

"Do I have to?" At their nods, I groaned and uncrossed my arms, making fists. "Fine. Fine!"

"Okay, just let out the biggest shock you can give us," said Reed, looking pleased with himself.

I closed my eyes, and felt a current run under my skin, concentrating in my palms and fingertips. I could feel it swirl, like water, then build up. It all happened so fast that when I opened my eyes, everyone was still the same. Watching me expectantly. For a second, there was absolute silence. Then - crack! In one second, I released the electric pulse through the gloves and all the lights went out in the room. Then they flashed on once, twice, three times, and stayed, even the lamps. The gray box was smoking a bit. Everyone stood there, blinking, then jumped into action.

"Sue, can you go check the circuit breaker downstairs?" asked Reed, examining the box. She nodded and strode to the elevator. "Oh, my. Eve, I believe you actually shorted this out!"

"What is it?" asked Ben, coming closer.

"It measures the voltage of something. I tweaked it a little, so it's supposed to be able to measure up to 10,000 volts. You had more voltage than a small lighting strike." I blinked at him. "That's enough to kill a man. That's enough to kill ten men. That's enough to power this whole building for over a year, give or take."

"Hey, guys?" Johnny spoke up from where he was, around the group of lamps, which were still burning. "You know these aren't on, right?"

Reed turned to look at me, scrambled around, pulled on some gloves of his own, and unscrewed one of the light bulbs. It continued to glow in his insulated hand, illuminating his shocked face. Feeling awkward, I stood, tore off the gloves, scrambled over, and snatched the bulb out of his hand. It was burning warm, but the second I touched it, it went out with a pop. As Reed continued to stare, I looked at the glass, contemplating, then span around and chucked it at Ben. It shattered on his chest, and all three of the men stared at me again.

"No more tests for me today," I said, stalking down the hall and locking myself in my room with the lights out. I didn't leave until everyone was asleep six hours later. Then I slipped out, pulled on a dress, and went out to grab a drink. I really needed one anyway.

Poor Eve. Poor, antisocial, hating Eve. Why can't she see that they're the good guys. *cackles* Because I like to make her suffer, that's why! And it's a way better plot when she hates everyone.

Until next week, my pretties, review, review, review!